Is Mossberg 930 a Good Choice for Me?

[churchmouse]

I was referring to a license to carry a handgun, eventually. As far as purchasing, owning, and securely transporting legal firearms to the range in Indiana, no permit/license is necessary, correct?

I can definitely see a shotgun taking a whole lot of practice. I surprised myself with my accuracy the first time I fired handguns. Not great of course but I did better than the owner with one or two of them. My performance with an assortment of rifles was mixed. The shotgun... not so impressive but still a whole lot of fun.

There are many differing opinions in these threads as to what works. I tend to see merit in most of them but I also know that a shotgun can be one of the most effective HD pieces you can have. As stated you will not be outside making 100 yd shots if you are "Defending" your castle.
Room to room or the length of the hallway. What is the longest distance inside your castle. At those distances what would you prefer to use.

When you say your ability was hit with the SG was not impressive what were you shooting at and at what distance.

 

[Ggreen]

Man sometimes you amaze me. Seriously. Shotguns are not that hard to master at all. My kids and everyone else I put behind one caught on easily enough.
We have all been running and sharing them and see the only set back is the recoil anticipation that folks tend to develop when some nut job puts them behind one with Hypersonics in the mag tube. Stop scaring the kids OK.

I do understand people believing they are a home defense Talisman. As with any fire arm time behind it is the key.

I highly suggest running a class with a shotgun where you manuever indoors. Not to mention reload or clearing a malfunction. Go to any multigun match and you'll see the struggle with the shotgun and the ease with the rifle.

Not to mention steel shot doesn't expand to diminish energy so it carries it through materials vs transferring it. A good defensive carbine round will have less over pen.

Im a shotgun fan, but they are simply not beginner weapons for home defense. Our even the best choice ballisticly

 

[Mgderf]

My first shotgun was a Mossberg 500 in 12ga.
Taught myself how to use it effectively, and it didn't take long.
I put literally thousands of rounds through that gun with zero malfunctions.

I sold it when it was about 25 years old, and regretted it almost immediately.
I now have 3 Mossberg 500's, one in each 12ga, 20ga, and .410bore.
I particularly like the tang safety and they just seem to point naturally for me.

I know you asked about the semi-auto, but as revealed upthread, they can be more ammo finicky, and maintenance is a little more involved.
I will never part with my 500's now.
They are good, solid firearms that perform well, and won't break your bank account.
Of course, this is strictly my opinion, and worth exactly what you paid for it.
YMMV

 

[churchmouse]

I highly suggest running a class with a shotgun where you manuever indoors. Not to mention reload or clearing a malfunction. Go to any multigun match and you'll see the struggle with the shotgun and the ease with the rifle.

Not to mention steel shot doesn't expand to diminish energy so it carries it through materials vs transferring it. A good defensive carbine round will have less over pen.

Im a shotgun fan, but they are simply not beginner weapons for home defense. Our even the best choice ballisticly

Your opinion I guess.
Balistics.....????
In an average 25' shot on a home intruder. We are still discussing indoors use yes.

And if we are discussing an 18" SG in defending your castle what is the diff between it and an AR or similar weapon in this same scenario.
The struggles at matcth's are mainly reloading yes...???

Seriously, if you have a 6 round 930 and you can not end any avg home intrusion threat with those 6 then (1)....you are hanging with the wrong people and dealing with that or (2) you are in a scareface situation and again, wrong people.

Besides the recoil I see no down side to using a properly loaded SG for HD "With some instruction from a qualified person"

And again, we all have our opinions yes....

 

[Tombs]

Run a normal stock on any mossberg shotgun, the pistol grip makes it impossible to reach the safety. With a normal stock your thumb sits on the safety which makes it perfect.

As for being a semi-auto, as long as you're only feeding it buck and slugs, which you should be if it's for defense, you shouldn't have any problems.

I don't like the idea of pump actions for new shotgunners, I firmly believe a semi is far more user friendly and less likely to cause problems as long as you use full power normal ammo and not gee wiz nonsense.

 

[churchmouse]

Run a normal stock on any mossberg shotgun, the pistol grip makes it impossible to reach the safety. With a normal stock your thumb sits on the safety which makes it perfect.

As for being a semi-auto, as long as you're only feeding it buck and slugs, which you should be if it's for defense, you shouldn't have any problems.

I ran pistol grips on all of mine and adjusted to the safety but I can see it being an issue for a newbie.

 

[ebox13]

Run a normal stock on any mossberg shotgun, the pistol grip makes it impossible to reach the safety. With a normal stock your thumb sits on the safety which makes it perfect.

As for being a semi-auto, as long as you're only feeding it buck and slugs, which you should be if it's for defense, you shouldn't have any problems.

I don't like the idea of pump actions for new shotgunners, I firmly believe a semi is far more user friendly and less likely to cause problems as long as you use full power normal ammo and not gee wiz nonsense.

So you brought up something I was going to ask about, and that's the location of the safety. I can see that being really awkward with the pistol grip.

 

[churchmouse]

So you brought up something I was going to ask about, and that's the location of the safety. I can see that being really awkward with the pistol grip.

It is unless you practice its use with the gun in that configuration.

As you seem to be fairly new to this one thing you will see as a constant in these threads and that is practice. Use the thing as often as you can. With that is becomes 2nd nature to you.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Are there a lot of scams in the classifieds on this site? I mean I know they're out there everywhere. Just wondering if the fact that this is more of a self-policing community helps keep it to a minimum.

No, they are rare. This gent responded in PM to a WTB post I made and offered his based on my post. And looking back it was also $750, not just $700. So pretty salty. Guy just trying to make a killing on a supply and demand issue. I dont think I reported him, I just told him if it wasnt a JM model, he could pound sand. I dont want one THAT bad.

I ran pistol grips on all of mine and adjusted to the safety but I can see it being an issue for a newbie.

Personally, I tried running an AR style grip/stock on a 500. took it off because it was awkward in all positions except shouldered, and would require totally changing (eg letting go) the strong hand grip to hold it in various positions. The stock stock's (LOL) angle is better suited for holding at all angles. At least for me.

 

[Tombs]

So you brought up something I was going to ask about, and that's the location of the safety. I can see that being really awkward with the pistol grip.

A compromise you could make, albeit hideously ugly, is the magpul shotgun stock. It gives a bit more of a drop to the wrist to feel similar to a pistol grip, but still allows easy access to the safety.

If you want a hyper tactical shotgun, just pony up for a benelli M4. The pricetag hurts until you shoot it.
Then the cost of a shorter stock and full length mag tube makes you start crying. But you end up with the best combat shotgun ever made.
I used my trumpbux to discount one into my budget, and have been extremely happy with it.

 

[churchmouse]

OP do you have a set budget in this search....?????

 

[ebox13]

I really appreciate all of the help and advice you guys have offered so far. There have been some comments about the longest distance for defending my castle. While the downstairs of my home is a bit more open, the reality is I would likely be upstairs during a home invasion situation and the upstairs layout is such that there's really only one possibility over 25 ft. More likely I think we're talking 15 ft or less to be in direct line of sight. So that does bring up another concern I had. Let's just say my castle ain't made of stone. There's only drywall, plywood, and vinyl siding separating me from neighbors on either side, perhaps only about 20 ft away. Not planning to move any time soon. I understand I need ammo that will get the job done and keep my family safe, but I thought maybe the shotgun options would limit the possibility of injuring someone in a neighboring home if I were to miss my target. But I'm guessing it's a situation where you can't have it both ways - deadly within my house but not so deadly on the other side of some cheap building materials.

 

[Ggreen]

I really appreciate all of the help and advice you guys have offered so far. There have been some comments about the longest distance for defending my castle. While the downstairs of my home is a bit more open, the reality is I would likely be upstairs during a home invasion situation and the upstairs layout is such that there's really only one possibility over 25 ft. More likely I think we're talking 15 ft or less to be in direct line of sight. So that does bring up another concern I had. Let's just say my castle ain't made of stone. There's only drywall, plywood, and vinyl siding separating me from neighbors on either side, perhaps only about 20 ft away. Not planning to move any time soon. I understand I need ammo that will get the job done and keep my family safe, but I thought maybe the shotgun options would limit the possibility of injuring someone in a neighboring home if I were to miss my target. But I'm guessing it's a situation where you can't have it both ways - deadly within my house but not so deadly on the other side of some cheap building materials.

If you hit tissue before the wall your wall should stop the rest. If you miss the are tons of research based papers and tons of videos demonstrating 00 and steel shot go much further through building materials than expanding rifle rounds. At these distances your shot pattern is going to be tight enough to consider it similar to a rifle round for all practical purposes.

With a shotgun make sure you're accurate, know your pattern, get a good weapon light. Your pattern will be inches not feet

 

[churchmouse]

If you hit tissue before the wall your wall should stop the rest. If you miss the are tons of research based papers and tons of videos demonstrating 00 and steel shot go much further through building materials than expanding rifle rounds. At these distances your shot pattern is going to be tight enough to consider it similar to a rifle round for all practical purposes.

With a shotgun make sure you're accurate, know your pattern, get a good weapon light. Your pattern will be inches not feet

I missed out on the 00 part of this discussion. No we do not use 00 buck except to kill a car.

 

[Ggreen]

I missed out on the 00 part of this discussion. No we do not use 00 buck except to kill a car.

What do you use for HD?

 

[churchmouse]

What do you use for HD?

#4 in a 2 3/4" shell. Not sure of the FPS but fairly fast. It will girdle the bark off a live tree with ease.
For fun we run 3" Hypersonic #2.

 

[Cameramonkey]

#4 in a 2 3/4" shell. Not sure of the FPS but fairly fast. It will girdle the bark off a live tree with ease.
For fun we run 3" Hypersonic #2.

THIS. #4 is still formidable. Thats 24-28 .25 caliber balls hitting your target at once. A great way to incapacitate a person, but wont over penetrate drywall, etc. As a handgun you'd say ".25acp is a lousy defensive choice" But what if you could instantly empty 4 MAGAZINES from your .25 Jennings into a perp all at once? Not so puny now, is it?

 

[rkwhyte2]

#4 in a 2 3/4" shell. Not sure of the FPS but fairly fast. It will girdle the bark off a live tree with ease.
For fun we run 3" Hypersonic #2.

I can say with certainty that the Hypersonic will get your attention.

 

[maxwelhse]

I feel it's my obligation to mention there's a VEPR 12 in the classys right now for a completely decent price... If you're gonna go with a 12ga autoloader, an AK shotgun is just.. well, it's an AK shotgun.

 

[Magyars]

#4 in a 2 3/4" shell. Not sure of the FPS but fairly fast. It will girdle the bark off a live tree with ease.
For fun we run 3" Hypersonic #2.

If you can find it, I agree with the #4 buckshot......